Last modified: 2025-08-30 by martin karner
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I recently bought an atlas from 1932 when I was in Frankfurt,
Germany. Inside there was a loose map, entitled Der Nahe
Osten (The Near East). The map was from the Deutsche
Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper and printed in 1941. Along the
side of the map are short political histories and pictures of
flags from the following nations: Egypt, Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, Iraq, Iran, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Romania, Saudi Arabia,
the Soviet Union, Syria, Transjordan and Turkey.
The flag for Palestine is a simple blue over white. Maybe the
German paper used that flag and omitted the Jewish symbol?
Roger Moyer, 9 November 1996
![[Proposal in Larousse]](../images/i/il-lar.gif)
image by Jaume Ollé
Flag of the Palestine Jews, according to the Larousse Dictionary
[Examples from 1934
(picture) and 1939
(picture)].
Jaume Ollé, 11 January 1998
See also: Media excitement over Zionist flag in Larousse
I recently found here postcards showing items from an exhibition entitled Blue-White in Colours that took place in 1996–1997. I assume that the exhibition was about Zionism reflected in postcards, greeting cards, posters etc. Some of the cards have flags on them:
Nahum Shereshevsky, 27 August 1998
image by António Martins, 23 August 2025
The book is called "Världens huvudstäder", which
translates to "The capitals of the world" [FOTW Bibliography: s9e38]. It is also
said that the book has a "complete" flag map, which it
does not, since it e.g. does not show the flag for Liechtenstein
and Manchukuo, even though the capitals of these countries are
presented inside the book. Interesting is also the flag for
Palestine, virtually the same as the flag for Israel from 1948
(even if the Magen David is black in this picture, but the flags
are overall a bit inaccurate) [front cover, back cover].
Elias Granqvist, 22 April 2003
It is not the flag of "Palestine 1938" since in that
era it was the British ensigns that should represent the Mandate
government, while the current Israeli flag (always with blue
Magen David) was the flag of the Zionist Federations and the
de-facto flag of the Jewish population.
Dov Gutterman, 7 July 2003
image located by William Garrison, 23 August 2021
(picture, source)
The photo above shows a memorial march in 1937 of a group of young Zionists on their way to the Tel Hai monument
(erected in 1934, photo).
In the article "1920–2020, Tel Hai between history and memory" from Smadar Sinai this photo
has the Hebrew caption: "Youth procession to the Trumpeldor memorial in Tel Hai (1937). Photo: Lazar Diner" (picture).
The flags with the S-shaped symbol belong to the Working Youth movement (more to come).
The photo is from a haaretz.com (paywall)
article about the Jewish women Sarah Chizik (photo) and Deborah Drachler
(photo), who took part in the Battle of Tel Hai
in 1920 (see also Tel-Hai Trustees).
Sarah Chizik, immigrated from Russia in 1907, and Deborah Drachler, immigrated from Ukraine in 1913, met in
1920 when they volunteered to go up to the Galilee to join the fighters led by Joseph Trumpeldor
(see also below) who were defending Tel Hai. On March 1 they both fell in battle, in
each other's arms. The two were the first women fighters in the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community) to be
killed in action. Historian Smadar Sinai writes,
that the two women "symbolized the determination not to give up women's right to bear arms"
(Testimonial from a fellow fighter: "[Drachler] was the only girl who practiced using a rifle and
bullets every single day").
The two women were initially mentioned more prominently than Trumpeldor's five male comrades-in-arms, who fell in
the same battle. They were buried separately from the men and honored in a statue called "The
Galilee and its Watchwomen". Over time, however, the names of these women were increasingly forgotten,
as were the names of the male fallen. Only Trumpeldor's name survived in Israel's collective memory.
Martin Karner/William Garrison, 28 August 2025
image located by Esteban Rivera
image located by Esteban Rivera
On July 3, 1904, Theodore Herzl passed away in Edlach, a village inside
Reichenau an der Rax, Lower Austria. At his request, his remains were brought to
Israel in 1949 and buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which was named after
him. The coffin was draped in a blue and white pall decorated with a Star of
David circumscribing a Lion of Judah and seven gold stars recalling Herzl's
original proposal for a flag of the Jewish state.
Source:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/mystery-solved-missing-herzl-parochet-found-in-kkl-jnf-house-in-tel-aviv-597937
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Herzel_coffin_honor_guard.jpg, source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Herzl). This is an original version
seen in a black and white photograph at the time.
https://images.jpost.com/image/..., source:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/mystery-solved-missing-herzl-parochet-found-in-kkl-jnf-house-in-tel-aviv-597937).
This is a reconstruction version.
Esteban Rivera, 13 September 2022
![[pin badge]](../images/i/il}zion_pin.jpg)
images (merged) located by William Garrison
WW1 Zionist cause flag pin badge. Gold print on dark brown field. Obverse: Star of David with centered
Lion of Judah.
Reverse: Star of David with centered inscriptions "ZION" in Hebrew and Latin script.
Picture caption: "These WW1 charity ‘flag day’ fundraising pin badges were sold during the Great War
to raise money for a
variety of causes; mainly supporting the troops fighting on the various fronts, supporting the war effort,
supporting wounded soldiers, widows etc. On Saturday, 5th September 1914, Mrs Morrison (the founder of the
World War One flag day movement) launched her first collection of the Great War. 3600
collecting tins were issued, and each collector carried a tray laden with flags. It soon became evident
that the sellers – with their red, white and blue scarves, and members of the Boys’ Brigade and Boy Scouts
who assisted them, ‘had entirely captured the sympathy of the public’, she said. The extraordinary success
of Mrs Morrison’s flag day was widely noticed, and soon ‘received letters from all parts of the country’,
she said, ‘asking for information and assistance, as others were anxious to take up the idea, when it was
seen how easily large sums could be obtained, by such a simple method. The holding of flag days as a
rewarding means of raising money for worthy causes was proved for all to see.’ One of the most worthy of
causes was that of raising money through the sale of penny-flags to help British prisoners of war in
Germany." (source: ebay.com)
located by William Garrison, 28 January 2023
![[badge tag label]](../images/i/il_tag-zionist.jpg)
image located by William Garrison
An Israel flag-like "badge tag label". The grahic element in the center mimicks the Star of
David, and at the same time it reads "I am Zionist" (אני ציוני) in two lines.
(source: ebay.com)
located by William Garrison, 18 September 2023
![[Zionist flags]](../images/i/il_trumpel_det.jpg)
image located by William Garrison
(picture, source)
In the haaretz.com
(paywall) article cited also above is a photo
of Jewish pioneer Joseph Trumpeldor, who was also the main figure in the Battle of Tel Hai
(see also Betar (Youth organization)).
The photo is from 1904/05 when he was a Russian prisoner of war in Takayama, Japan. The same photo is also shown in
Wikimedia, with the
information: "... Above Trumpeldor's image the symbol of the captive camp is visible, a Star of David
with the word 'Zion' in the center, flags on both sides with seven blue stars, and the inscription: 'From
[camp] of the captives of Zion in Japan'." Why the author thinks that the stars are blue, we don't know.
The flags themselves are unknown, maybe the seven stars allude to Theodor Herzl's flag proposal.
Martin Karner/William Garrison, 28 August 2025
